Cloaca

Cloaca, Delvoye said in an interview, is not about aesthetics. Each machine is in total synchronicity with the advances of technology, there is no frivolity. Every single element you see has its function: you pour the food into the "oral" side of the machine, it is then processed by a series of mechanical organs (there is the stomach, the small intestine and the colon). Yet, Cloaca is not a commentary of science and neither is it meant to be useful. The artist actually refused to sell one of his machines to a diaper company who hoped to use it for tests. He doesn't even show it in Galleries but only in Museums. Cloaca is not on sale but you can buy its vacuumed excrements right on the website.

As with the pig tattoos, where you could buy the tattoo on the pig skin before the animal's natural death, Cloaca likewise suggests a very explicit political statement on the economical side of the art market and of the capitalistic system in general.

Delvoye is currently trying to set up a Cloaca business in the United States to avoid paying taxes on shit revenues in Belgium. He would get tax exemption in the US if his project is regarded as a church. Two lawyers are currently investigating what is the best way to establish such a church, while the artist is looking for a piece of land to build a temple.

One of Delvoye´s conclusions is that if shit itself guarantees that Cloaca is an art piece, it will never be a really successful enterprise.